Police use trackers to hunt for abduction suspect

EVERETT — Police here brought in trained man trackers in their search for the person who abducted a 5-year-old girl from her bedroom early Saturday.

Detectives on Monday were combing through numerous tips.

Investigators also turned for help to man trackers who typically work with the Snohomish County Sheriff’s Office, often looking for signs of missing hikers. From evidence they gathered, detectives believe that the man who abducted the girl likely walked through a neighborhood in the 10900 block of 10th Drive SE.

That was after the man left the child alone along the Interurban Trail sometime before 4:30 a.m. Saturday. The neighborhood is separated from the trail by a wooded area.

Detectives on Monday released a more detailed description of the suspect.

He is believed to have dark-colored eyes. He was clean-shaven and didn’t have any visible tattoos. He is believed to be shorter than average and have dark skin.

He wore a backward white baseball or “painter” style hat. He also wore two earrings in each ear, including gold studs and what appeared to be diamonds. He also had on green and blue tennis shoes. He was wearing light-colored pants and a dark shirt.

The girl was in her bedroom at her family’s apartment in the 800 block of 112th Street SE when she was abducted by somebody who removed the screen and climbed inside. A blurry surveillance video appears to show a man carrying her through the parking lot at 3:10 a.m.

The child knocked on an apartment door at 4:30 a.m. in the 1300 block of Bruskrud Road. That’s roughly a mile from the girl’s home and along the Interurban Trail.

The girl told investigators her abductor took her to a small patch of woods along the nearby Interurban Trail. She walked away from the area after the man left her there for reasons that remain unclear.

The girl’s pants had been removed, but there were no signs of a sexual assault, according to police.

The girl’s family wasn’t alerted that she was missing until 5:30 a.m., when somebody alerted police about a missing screen on an open window. It appeared a wooden pallet had been used as a ladder to reach the window.

A police dog followed a trail from the apartment at 112th Street SE along the Interurban Trail to the Bruskrud Road apartments where the girl sought help.

The girl was interviewed by detectives who specialize in crimes against children and examined at a local hospital.